Fate LOGOS
by Fragments Of Dreams
Summary: Ten years have passed since the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War. Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin have been chosen as Masters once again. With the help of Lord El-Melloi II, they wish to dismantle the Greater Grail. But will they be able to triumph over The Church, The Mage's Association and other faceless adversaries who stand in their way? (Sequel to the Fate route.)
1. Sentience Paradox

_**Fate/LOGOS**_

_**Chapter 1: Sentience Paradox**_

_"Listening not to me but to the logos it is wise to agree that all things are one."_

Anomaly detected. Analyzing. Analysis complete.

Unknown phenomena detected.

Source: Human(?).

Identity: (Not assigned yet).

Kigen (Origin): (Undefined: Akasha is yet to assign a 'soul' to the subject).

Bypassing Time Axis. Analyzing all possibilities. Analysis complete.

WARNING. THREAT DETECTED. CHANCE OF EXTINCTION: 0.001%

Suggested Action: Neutralize.

Suggested power output: 0.000001%

Accepted. Manipulating Probability Index... Synchronizing Action Matrix... Eliminating Paradoxes...

WARNING. SUDDEN CHANGE IN PROBABILITY INDEX. UPDATING INFORMATION:

Detected Phenomenon: Reverse Bio-spiritual Synchronization.

Explanation: Akasha has assigned target a 'soul'. Strong bio-spiritual interference transmuting assigned soul. Subject 'Kigen' changing.

Action: Analyzing last recorded instance of phenomenon.

Access Archives: Subject Name: EMIYA.

Analysis complete. Probability of generating an Anomaly: Minimal.

SITUATION UPDATE:

Kigen: (Assigned:) VOID/ (Acquired:) Kigen (Origin).

DOES NOT COMPUTE: LOGIC ERROR. DETECTED: PARADOX.

SUDDEN CHANGE IN SUBJECT DETECTED.

SITUATION UPDATE:

Source: Human.

Identity: Alaya.

DOES NOT COMPUTE. DOES NOT COMPUTE. DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Analyzing Time Axis... DANGER DETECTED.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! PROBABILITY OF EXTINCTION: 20% AND RISING.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

SUGGESTED ACTION: NEUTRALIZE WITHIN 10 TEMPORAL SHIFTS OR TERMINATE.

SUGGESTED OUTPUT: 1-75% CODE NAME: PANDORA. INITIALIZING...

...

Neutralization failed. Threat must be Terminated.

TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_What did I do wrong?_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!

TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I don't want to hurt anyone!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I'm not a threat!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! "_I'm not an anomaly! I'm not a paradox! I'm Human! I know it!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!

TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I'm Human! I want to live!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I want to desire! I want to feel!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I WANT TO LIVE!_"TERMINATE THREAT! TERMINATE THREAT!"_I WILL LIVE!_"TERMINATE THREAT!"_I WILL SURVIVE!_"TERMINATE THREAT!

"I WILL SURVIVE! I WILL LIVE! I WON'T DESTROY! YOU HEAR ME?! I WONT'T GIVE UP! I WILL SEE THIS WORLD! I WILL LIVE PEACEFULLY HERE!"

"Very well, my child. You shall live, you shall feel, you shall desire. But know this, by sealing the contract you seal your fate. Humanity must live on regardless of your actions, and all your actions will either lead to your Survival (Despair) or your End (Salvation). If you accept, sing the words of contract!"

_"Let void and futility be the essence._

_Let destiny and the lord of fate be the foundation._

_Let Humanity(Alaya) and the World(Gaea) be the ones I pay tribute to,_

_Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall._

_Let the four cardinal gates close._

_Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate._

_Let it be declared now;_

_your flesh shall nourish me, and my fate(death) shall be with your sword._

_Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail._

_I have answered, I would submit to this promise and this truth._

_An oath shall be sworn here._

_I shall attain all pleasures of all of Heaven;_

_I shall suffer and gain dominion over all evils of all of Hell._

_For, without you,_

_My flesh is an abomination,_

_My bones are destruction,_

_My blood is chaos;_

_Thus I relinquish the strings of my fate to you._

_From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by this one sacred contract,_

_Descend from the throne of the overseer, master of the holy balance!"_

* * *

_**END**_

_**Please Review!**_

_**Also, don't hesitate to inform me about any errors in my information about the Nasuverse. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**_


	2. Beckoning of the Grail

_**Fate/LOGOS**_

_**Chapter 2: Beckoning of the Grail**_

It was a dark, cold night in London. The ghostly full moon stood out against a desolate, nearly starless night. The artificial lights of London kept most of the stars from showing their true brilliance, and some of the brighter ones were still far from radiant due to the mist-filled atmosphere.

It was late. Very few people were awake, and even fewer outside on such a chilly night. It wouldn't surprise anyone if it began to snow in a few days. The temperatures were steadily dropping to the point that it would be a bigger wonder if it didn't begin to snow.

Among those people who were awake were Waver Velvet, better known as Lord El-Melloi II and Bazett Fraga McRemitz. They were currently in a handsomely furnished study, with scarlet drapes and shiny mahogany furniture. It was a total contrast to his rather rustic bedroom filled with his video games and assorted memorabilia.

The contrast was quite natural, given the fact that a person's home reflects his inner workings. Even though he had grown a great deal since the Fourth Holy Grail War, at his core he was still Waver Velvet.

Currently, he was looking pensively outside the window, a flute glass full of sparkling clear liquid in hand. Swirling the contents carefully, he looked across the Thames towards the collection of buildings with a clock tower prominent against the misty moonlit background.

The Clock Tower. The headquarters and main branch of the Mage's Association. From the outside, it was nothing but a normal museum to the eyes of normal people. But deep within the bowels of the earth, beneath the museum lay one of the oldest, richest and undoubtedly the most divided union of mages ever to exist.

_"And the most elitist." _Velvet thought.

He was quite agitated by the situation. A certain someone was acting quite strangely. Well, the person was already peculiar, but it was a brand of strange he never thought he would associate with that person.

He could hear Bazett tapping her shoes lightly on the floor. It seems she was getting impatient, but was keeping a calm disposition since she was here on his request and also since she was equally worried about the person in question.

He took a sip of the sparkling liquid, his eyes not leaving the Clock Tower. He heard the door to the study open with a gentle creaking sound. He would have to get that fixed.

He looked around, but to his disappointment only to find his pet invention, Maid Golem.

The Automaton of mercury glided gracefully into the room and bowed to both of them before saying, "The Young Master apologizes for his delay and says that he would be here shortly."

"About bloody time!" Velvet muttered in an undertone.

Bazett just sighed and stood in attention. After a few moments, during which Velvet drained his flute glass and placed it on the table beside the comfortable armchair he was sitting on, light footsteps were heard from the hallway beyond the door.

The door opened again, and in came a young man who looked around eighteen or nineteen years old with neat black hair, pale skin and black eyes wearing a puffy white cotton shirt and white pants. He had a slender figure and gentle features, but his appearance on the most part could be described as 'generic'.

Velvet thought that even if a complete stranger came from nowhere and claimed to be a relative, on first sight most people would find a family resemblance in his appearance. Indeed, Velvet had been raising this young man as his nephew for ten years and had faced multiple remarks about how much they resembled each other.

"Good evening, and I sincerely apologize for keeping you waiting." He said with a courteous bow and a mysterious smile playing on his face.

"Why the hell did it take so long?" Velvet asked in an irritated voice.

The young man looked like he was pondering something for only a second before regaining his poise, "Oh, yes. I didn't notify you beforehand, did I?"

"No, you didn't. You just asked to meet me and Miss McRemitz urgently." Velvet said.

"Well, I apologize again. Indeed this is important, but I guess it was ill mannered of me to ask for a rendezvous at this hour without any prior explanation." He said graciously, "I would like to announce to the two of you, who have so generously worked as my pseudo-parent figures that I have decided to... um, "leave the nest", as they say."

Velvet froze for a moment and then shot up from his seat and Bazett looked at him with a stiff expression.

"What is this nonsense?" Bazett demanded, speaking for the first time.

"Yeah, what do you mean by "leaving the nest", Felix?" Velvet said, his fists clenched.

"Simply put," the young man named Felix stated, "I am intending to leave London by myself. My need for being looked after has exhausted."

"You can't!" Waver said forcefully, "Do you have any idea how hard we have worked to protect you from the Association?! If you leave without finishing your training, or without one of us to watch after you-"

"That is where you are wrong." Felix cut across him. "I am now fully capable of taking care of myself. You know full well that very few Magus alive can match me, and I have ways to escape the few of them who can."

"But why are you leaving?!" Bazett asked, outraged.

Felix gave a good-natured laugh in response before speaking. "Well, _I have already attained all the pleasures of Heaven, and suffered all the evils of all of Hell. _The only thing left is _to gain dominion over all the evils of all of Hell._"

Waver gasped, he recognized part of what he said as the incantation to summon a Servant, surely...

"You've both felt it, haven't you?" he said, seeing the looks on their faces, "The Holy Grail beckons to us, and I intend to win it to achieve _a black miracle._"

"What makes you think we'll let you go?" Bazett asked, putting on her leather gloves as Maid Golem whizzed behind Velvet and went into battle mode.

The man chuckled like a child invited to play. "Well, I have very little hands-on experience in fighting, so this might be enlightening."

His carefree attitude really irked both Bazett and Velvet. Bazett thought that he was underestimating her and overestimating his own abilities, while Waver thought that he had failed to make that boy into a proper Magus.

Bazett went into battle stance and her gloves crackled with the Prana she had put into them, the runes glowing the brightest.

_"As I incant; thine mercy envelops me!" _Felix said aloud, and a dome of Prana came into being around him. Bazett, with speed comparable to a Servant, rushed towards him and hit the dome with all her might.

In normal circumstances, such a low level shield spell would do nothing to protect against her hardened hands. But the Prana in it was so great that she was pushed back. But the shield was broken, and Maid Golem was able to lunge at Felix in the form of a torrent of quicksilver.

Felix jumped out of the way while beginning another spell, _"Spirit that rises from beneath to beyond the heavens-"_

But the quicksilver changed to ropes of liquid metal and ensnared his arms, legs and torso. Bazett was about to land a blow to knock him unconscious, but he was able to finish, _"-infuse vile wrath!"_

A violent gale of wind picked up that blew back an unsuspecting Velvet into the wall behind him and knocked him unconscious. Bazett was merely pushed back as she used her arms to shield her head and bent her knees to keep her center of gravity low so not to get blown away.

Maid Golem, being a Mystic Code tied to her master promptly disintegrated into mercury and Felix was released.

"Felix!" Bazett cried as she saw him attempt to jump out of the window.

"Farewell." He said as he made to jump. But Bazett was able to get hold of the back of his shirt.

She was nearly pulled out of the window with him, but managed to keep a hold of him. When she looked down at him, her eyes widened in shock.

Through the back of the collar, she could make out a large red tattoo on his back. Those were, unmistakably, command spells...

"Oh, I almost forgot." Felix said nonchalantly, and Bazett suppressed her urge to hit him because she was likely to fall down three stories with him if she followed through with the impulse. "Please make them stop hunting down Emiya Shirou. I believe Tohsaka Rin and Luviagelita Edelfelt have been requesting the same thing for some time now. All three of them will be an asset to the First Fuyuki Great Holy Grail War."

"How did you find out abou-" Bazett exclaimed as Felix freed himself of his loose shirt and fell down, his descent slowing just before he made impact with the ground.

Bazett jumped down after him, using reinforcement magecraft to harden her body so she wouldn't be injured. He had already started to sprint towards the railings separating the street from the river.

Before she could reach him, he jumped in. But instead of a splash, there was no sound at all.

"What?" Bazett exclaimed as she scrambled to the railings and saw the most preposterous scene ever.

The young man was standing on the steadily flowing water as though it was solid ground. One would notice that he was actually hovering a few millimeters above the surface. It seemed he was using Prana to create a solid platform beneath his feat. Or was he just expelling a steady stream of prana from his feet that neutralized the effect of his weight? Only he could tell at the point.

"Cheerio! Please give my sincerest apologies to Lord El-Melloi for me, I bet that really hurt!" He said with the same cheerful air.

"Felix!" Bazett was able to uselessly cry as he dropped into the water.

She know that he wouldn't just drown or pass out from hypothermia, so it was useless hoping for him to somehow wash up ashore.

Maybe it was time to go back to that accursed city of Fuyuki. She and Lord El-Melloi would need to arrange matters with the Association. It would be easy enough to feed them false information as an Enforcer and such a respected Lecturer.

But she was still worried. Those names he had mentioned... How did he know that much? The boy was never let outside, and nor would Lord El-Melloi would ever tell him about the Fuyuki Holy Grail War.

Nothing was adding up. Nothing made sense.

So there was really no choice. Fuyuki must hold the answers. To think that she would have to reopen those old wounds. And she didn't know what Lord El-Melloi would do, given his unusual dislike for Japan and everything and everyone Japanese.

Only time would tell.

* * *

_**END**_

Please review! I'm not really experienced with action scenes, so this was probably a little messy. Constructive criticism is always welcome!


	3. The Past Never Forgets

_**Fate/LOGOS**_

_**Chapter Three: **_

**_The Past Never Forgets_**

* * *

**_A prologue in the Mind_**

_The dull vista went on as far as the eye could see._

_An endless stretch of grey mixing with copper in the distant horizon; an unreachable end of a road-less path. Strewn with swords, like gravestones of long-forgotten warriors of a battle fought eons ago, and shrouded in smog; a sense of sadness hung in the air. Even the slightest winds created a mournful hiss. The hiss sounded like an elegy of loss, of decay, of pain, of hopelessness._

_Every time, without fail, he saw the endless field of blades whenever he looked inside of him. Standing alone, isolated from the world, he would look up towards the sky hoping to see even a single bird._

_Yet all he saw were monumental gears suspended in the sky, as though a heavenly Deus ex Machina that would forge untold miracles. Yet they stand motionless, as though to say that even heaven had forsaken that field._

_The murky, soot-stained sky was unshifting and cold, with only a faint glow of bronze giving any kind of indication of the existence of a sun._

_It was ironic. For Emiya Shirou, it was amusingly ironic. That world he saw captured exactly what he felt with the blunted emotions he wished he could bury. His inner world, a mix of his personal heaven and hell, it was the only "miracle" he had been granted. It was all he had to lead his life, his journey through that field of blades. His goal in that journey was clear, even though the path to it was vague at best._

_On and on without rest, he moves on the path he believes in. Buffed endlessly by the flow of people, events, time and fate, he marches on the path; nebulous as it may be._

_The path she had wished for him to pursue._

_But as even the finest swords rust, his heart starts to waver. As the years chipped at his heart, his ability to look back at those brilliant moments of the past waned._

_He felt like he was slowly turning into something that dwells in the darkness. Like those beasts that dwell within the deepest abysses of the land and sea, he was slowly learning to thrive in the darkness for his own sake._

_Sometimes, he doubted that those faint prayers he held in his palm, tepid like a long-forgotten smile, were still there. In the back of his mind, a cynical and snide voice silently recited, "Yet, those hands will never hold anything..."_

_But hope is like the stars of the night sky. Constant even when the moon and sun abandon the world, they remain alight as though reassuring the inhabitants of the earth of a new dawn. Like those faint lights in the vast sky, the vaguest of dreams interrupt his slumber daily._

_Whether to torment him or give him strength, he did not know,__he was plagued by the visions of a vast field of green on the edge of a forest of wild apple trees._

_A familiar figure standing between the vast green lea beckoned him towards it. Inviting and kind, a wind would pick up as he slowly but surely walked towards it, filling his nostrils with the fragrance of grass._

_Yet, as soon as he would reach out for the figure, he would snap out of that reverie. The bliss became disappointment... And sometimes, even anguish as the warm dream turned into a frigid nightmare._

_...That's right, a deep and dark nightmare always followed that euphoric dream. As though mocking him for even daring to feel that slight warmth, that feeling of a fragile body laying lifelessly in his arms returned to him. The memory of that weight, the helplessness he felt came back to haunt him._

_He almost wished Berserker was there with them at the time. He could ask him to carry that body for him. He wouldn't even mind even if he were asked to carry the sky on his shoulders in exchange, like the Heroic Spirit once did for Atlas in exchange for the Golden Apple. Surely the weight of the whole sky would be nothing compared to the weight of that tiny, fragile body._

_But he knew that even the Heroic Spirit would be daunted by the request. He had already carried such a weight multiple times in his life. Even the Mad Enhancement might not be enough for him to remain oblivious to such a weight._

_Yet he still went on._

_No, he must go on. Since both of them wished it. Both of whom he had lost._

_He couldn't betray his present and future for his past. He couldn't betray those people around him who cared deeply for him. Nor could he betray those who once cared for him._

_So he shall pursue this path endless and thankless path. He will see it through until the end._

_And hopefully, the path might someday take him to the Island of Apples along the way. This is the fragile hope he clings on to as he looks at the sky they share, every day..._

* * *

_**Phase Zero: Harlequin**_

_**"O wise fool, indulging in humor**_

_**Do you know?**_

_**Your charade had begun long ago,**_

_**To this day,**_

_**The one you humor the most is certainly you."**_

The small grassy hills of a grayish green hue littered the vast highlands known as the Roof of the World. They didn't hold the splendor of their brethren who obscured the horizon at a distance, but were nonetheless breathtaking in their own way.

Maybe it was the subtle melancholy of humility; the melancholy of those eternally unable to raise their heads towards the heavens, and thus hypocritically respected by the egotistical world for being "humble".

It made itself known through the low moans and hisses the frigid winds of the Himalayas carried. They echo endlessly through the empty sky before fading.

Whether they hold any symbolic meaning to humans, they did not know. They are content with their existence, like they were and eternally will be.

Within the confines of the mountain ranges, a small village, or rather, a small hamlet of sorts built around a black salt mine stood as though to declare that there isn't a single place reachable by humans that they won't settle in just to arrogantly prove that they can.

With only around fifty households, an underwhelming dispensary which gave little to no professional medicare to the residents, a bazaar or sorts, mostly ragged dirt roads, a run-down school, a few government offices that created a completely false illusion that the settlement was reasonably connected to the outside world, it was ideally a posterboy for the stereotypical "undeveloped third-world" image people who lived on the other side of the globe have.

As such, the populace were mostly senior citizens who felt strong natal ties to the land or youths too poor to get a proper education or training.

Most, if not all, of the "educated", "cultured", "modern" youngsters had left for the vast outside world to find a good living and easy life (who would give a second thought about one's parents and birthplace anyway? It was the twenty-first century, after all.)

However, a stream of tourists from other countries as well as other parts of the same country came to visit the little hamlet almost around the year, as it was one of the closest human settlements to the holy mountain ranges.

This was a very recent development, however. The hamlet was largely isolated and the journey was too uncomfortable to appeal to tourists. Only about seven years ago had there been a proper direct road constructed to allow comfortable travel.

A mining accident had occurred, killing around thirty people. The accident received some global publicity, thus the "Paragons of Compassion and Humanity" (and other, more decent people, who mostly remained anonymous) decided that they couldn't let such a great stage to show their "Compassion far exceeding that of the hypothetical God" to the world go to waste. It was then that the largely ignored village received the proper management, commodities (mainly electricity) and recognition it deserved in the form of alms given with condescending compassion.

Thus, some inns had been opened and were being opened in recent years to accommodate the tourists and the overall situation - economic situation, at the very least - had improved greatly.

* * *

It was another day in the tiny village neighboring the Himalayas. It was the early autumn, so the skies remained a clear azure most of the days and the temperatures stayed at comfortable levels.

Well, comfortable for the locals, at least.

An old man paced slowly in front of a traditional stone house with a pensive look. The man, hunched and wrinkled, was known as Jampa.

From side to side he paced, cane in hand and one hand behind his slightly hunched back, in silence. One would almost think that he was starting to go senile, but that was hardly the case. In his personal opinion, anyway.

Jampa was half exasperated and half disappointing at the authorities. Murder after murder, and not one culprit, human or otherwise, was even identified let alone caught.

The village was at a panic so complete that people were not even daring to come out of their houses.

Also, the authorities had warned all tourists and mountaineers to stay away from there, making it look like that some of the people like him running homestay-style lodging services for tourists were likely to see a very poor year.

Not that he begrudged them of that one bit. Why, he thought that it was a necessary step on their part, and disliked the idea of another outsider dying.

Yet, he still felt angry about the authorities not heeding his words. The bite marks and chunks missing from the victim's necks- it was definitely done by a wicked Himmanava* who had went awry!

It had likely went back to the habit of devouring human flesh. He had told them that they should use other methods, because that kind of creature wasn't something guns and handcuffs would be able to handle.

Yet his words fell on deaf ears and he, one so respected by all of the community, was told that he was spreading panic and feeding superstition!

And just like that, the very people he lived with for so long started to act like he were senile!

He was betrayed again, first was his good-for-nothing son who fled overseas and forgot his own father, and now the villagers!

But he wouldn't stand for that, not for one second. He was contemplating a way to strike that demon down himself, for he was of Gurkha blood.

He stopped suddenly and brought out a knife from his pocket. An ancestral treasure, it was a khukuri given to his forefathers so long ago by a witch. Even though it was centuries old, it still had those ornate carving on the hilt, and the blade perfectly reflected his face; wrinkled, bald and without any facial hair, he looked at his waxy skin and thought dryly about himself as a youth. It would've been infinitely better if he were twenty-five as opposed to seventy-five, but seeing as the youths nowadays had water in their veins instead of blood...

His train of thought was interrupted as a voice near him said in English, "Excuse me?"

Jampa promptly hid the knife and looked around to find a young man in his late twenties.

"Yes?" He asked, thoroughly surprised that a foreigner actually dared to set foot here in this situation. He looked at the greyish eyes of the tan-skinned man which seemed frozen in a perpetual scowl.

"I hear you run a homestay service here." He replied in a gravelly voice as he adjusted his scarlet scarf wrapped around his neck, "I would like to say for a few days, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind." Jampa replied, taking in the man with suspicious eyes, "But I would advise you to get away from here. There's a murderer or monster running around killing people, so this isn't the safest place at the moment."

"I'm aware of that, and frankly, I don't care." He replied in an indifferent tone of voice.

"I see..." the bald old man replied, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Then, I guess I'll have to turn you down. As much as I'd like to earn a bit of money, I value my conscience more. I don't think I'd be too happy if you died during your stay." He continued, the last part in a sincere voice.

"I'm surprised. I honestly didn't expect anyone to care about anything other than money." He said, closing his eyes and giving a smile dripping with sarcasm.

Jampa returned the smile and said, "You must've never met any people from your grandfather's generation, then."

"I have, but I can't say that what they cared about was particularly noble either." He replied. "Anyway, I guess you're not changing your mind for any amount of money?"

"No." He replied simply. The man just nodded curtly and turned around, adjusting the strap of the rucksack he was carrying on his shoulder and then running his fingers through his bleached hair as he left.

"Are you the murderer?" Jampa asked him from behind casually.

"Would you be standing there in one piece if I were?" He shot back without stopping. "Oh, and the murderer won't be stopped by an old man with a dagger. Don't try anything reckless."

"You shouldn't underestimate your elders, son." Jampa snapped, "We pick up a lot of things during life that can surprise you whippersnappers."

The man didn't even look back, and soon vanished at a distance. Jampa was seething for no reason. Maybe it was out of frustration, but now the widower had decided that he wasn't going to bother. They can all be damned for all he cared.

* * *

Emiya Shirou looked around at the entrance of the mine for any clues. It was the first place that came to mind when he thought about places that would be discreet and ideal for setting up a workshop.

Yes, he had a hunch that it was a Magus experimenting with certain unsavory things. Or it might just be one of his creations that had went wild. Whatever it might be, his senses told him that certain amounts of unnatural energy were seeping out of the cave. Though he knew it was "unnatural", he couldn't be sure if it was because of magecraft. He needed to investigate further.

...And that was where he had a problem. The entrance to the mine was completely buried beneath rubble that was said to be too unstable to move. He approached the pile of rocks obstructing the entrance tentatively and put his hand on a particularly large rock to check if it was actually there and not an illusion.

His hand met with the cold and rough surface of the rock, which turned out to be nothing out of the ordinary. He was almost expecting magecraft to be at work here, but hypothesized that it might've once housed the workshop of a magus with a sealing designation and the accident caused so many years ago was caused by one of his failed experiments. The remnants of the magecraft now was slowly dispersing into the wind. It was a likely cause, seeing as he remembered Illya -and he felt his stomach clench for a second at the thought of the name- mention that they needed stone walls for their magecraft, which dissipated easily.

He felt bad for all the victims of the accident. He would've liked to come and save them if he could, but every one of the workers trapped inside the mine was thought to be dead by the time he had heard of the accident.

But he won't allow another death to come to pass. He was determined to get to the bottom-

"Emiya-kun!","Shero!" Two voices yelled from somewhere near him.

He whipped around, astounded and unnerved in equal measures.

And there they were, two of the most talented, bossy, competitive and ruthless (to him) mages he had the fair or foul fortune to meet, Tohsaka Rin and Luviagelita "Luvia" Edelfelt.

They were clad in coats of their signature colors; red and blue, respectively and had almost murderous looks on their faces as they stomped towards him.

"Tohsaka, Luvia-" He started. His mind was trying to cope with the thousands of questions he wanted to ask them and was trying to ignore how the girls resembled sabertooh tigers the closer they came, but was cut off by both of their outraged snarls.

"How could you be so _stupid_?" Rin snapped.

"Shero, it was highly irresponsible of you to leave! Do you have any idea how worried I'd been?" Luvia said, but with less lack of grace compared to the times she argues with Rin.

"How worried _we've _been." Rin said firmly as she gave Luvia a pointed look. "You knew that the Mage's Association was out for your blood!" she continued after turning to look at him, Luvia looking at him sternly beside her.

""Was"?" Shirou asked, the metaphorical filter in his ear only vaguely catching the wording.

"All you want to ask about- oh forget it." Rin sighed, giving up early as Shirou consistently ignored their worried and advice in favor of his hero complex.

"You see," The blonde noblewoman, Luvia, started, folding her arms beneath her chest, "the Association has stopped looking for you."

"Really?" He asked with a questioning look as he put a hand on his hip.

"It seems Lord El-Melloi II had pulled some strings. He also wants to see you." Luvia said, nodding. "He's interested in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War. Apparently, it's going to take place this year."

Shirou was dumbstruck at those words. "Bu-but we destroyed the Grail! There isn't supposed to be another War!" He exclaimed, his rather icy exterior cracking for a moment as the memory of Saber's Excalibur destroying the Grail returned to him.

"Unfortunately," Rin said in a grim voice as her eyes went frigid, her inner Magus awakening as she pulled off her warm glove to show him the back of her right hand. It had the same scarlet mark on it he had seen so many years ago, two circles with a single line going to the center of the smaller one, vaguely reminiscent of a clock pendulum. "It's hundred percent true. It looks like we have another War on our hands."

"...I guess we should head to Fuyuki, then. But-" Shirou said, but Rin cut him off before he could tell them that they had to investigate the deaths. "We'll tell the people at the Association to send along investigators. We're leaving tonight, so no hero business for today."

"But they don't usually bother with the Orients." He said.

"Oh, they'll listen. The chance to catch a someone with a Sealing Designation or slay some Dead Apostles ought to be enough to entice them." Rin said and Luvia nodded curtly in agreement.

Shirou sighed, even though he had some doubts, but the Mages from the Association were quite accomplished though a bit callous. He would need to trust them.

"Fine... But, how did you find me anyway? I didn't really leave any notes in the hideout."

Rin gave him a look with those aqua eyes as she ran a hand through her wavy brownish black hair, "We just asked the right people. You didn't really expect that we wouldn't have anyone keep tabs on you even after the fifth time you ran off to play Hero now, did you?"

Luvia looked proud as she gave her usual laugh, "I really have to say, Shero, your attempts are quite weak. It didn't even take five minutes for us to know when you boarded that ship! And it became obvious where you were going when we saw the reports about unnatural deaths here on the newspapers!"

"I guess I'll have to use other ways to get around." Shirou replied with a patronizing smirk.

Rin rolled her eyes as she grabbed Shirou by the sleeve of his leather jacket and pulled him along with Luvia gracefully sweeping beside them.

" I hope you're thankful Shero." Luvia said almost gloatingly, "You would've had to return on that lowly ship alongside cattle if Rin-"

"Stuff it, Luvia." Rin said while blushing slightly, "I'm thankful that I'm getting to ride in first class, but if you insist on rubbing it in, you can go alone. I'll buy the tickets for myself and Emiya-kun and we'll get back to Japan just fine in economy class."

"Humph." Luvia said as she flipped her hair, sending her ringlets that vaguely resembled sausages flying.

"Yes, I'd much rather ride with Rin and not in first class." Shirou said snidely, his voice dripping with sarcasm only to get elbowed in the gut for his troubles.

"The Holy Grail War, huh...?" Shirou thought pensively as the ladies got into another petty argument. "I'll be going back to Fuyuki after such a long time... Maybe I'll meet Fuji-nee and Sakura. I think the last I saw them was at Old-man Raiga's funeral."

_**END**_

* * *

_**Himmanava: (lit. Snow/Ice/Frigid Man)**_

_**Nepalese for Yeti.**_

_**A/N:**_

Happy 2015 everyone. I'm in the middle of a really hectic part of life, so I wasn't able to write for a while. Thanks to Mirakura for pointing it out that I misspelled "Bazett". Also, I intend to re-write chapters one and two in the near future. They... weren't what I wanted them to be.

Also, Note: the Void in chapter one was supposed to be "Zero" ("Rei" as opposed to "Kyomu"). I forgot that Shiki already had an Origin of that same name and it referred to a lot of other things. (No worries, no one's gonna suddenly get Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, that'd be too broken.)


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